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Friday, April 17, 2009

My husband and I HATE THIS AD with every fiber of our being. The product looks kinda cool, but I'm so mad at Verizon for its subtle affirmation of modern, negative parenting trends that if I paid for a Verizon plan, I might just cancel it.

In the ad, a friendly mom (doesn't she look happy to be spending her free time making dinner for her family!) is learning about the exotic world of paella. Oooh, scary and different. It's just a rice dish, y'all. But the mom's kid responds to the text alerting the family of the impending paella dinner over which she is slaving with a video message that says, with ample derision, "I don't know what Pah Ella is, but I'm not eating it. Ever."

Mom shakes her head, oh that silly boy!, and picks up the phone and ORDERS A PIZZA FOR DELIVERY.

Congrats, Verizon family! Your son will leave the nest with no appreciation for food, an undeveloped palate, and the inability to comport himself politely when attending a function outside his home or comfort zone!

My mom would NOT have handled such a video message with the same warm, shaking-head, oh-kids! feeling as the commercial mom. I think the response would've been something along the lines of "you are not going to conclude that you will not eat this food until you have tried it and if you try it and don't like it, you know where the cereal and/or peanut butter is located because I am not a short order chef and I don't run a restaurant - you will eat what the family is eating or you'll be hungry."

Somehow - this commercial sums up for me everything that is wrong with modern parenting trends where kids aren't expected to . . . well, to do or try or accept much of anything and they should be driven to every manner of social activity they wish at all hours of the day and parents should live their lives FOR THEIR CHILDREN and place their own identities, desires, tastes, and activites in the back seat.